Vallas saga could get clearer this week

Linda Conner Lambeck

Updated 12:27 am, Monday, July 15, 2013

Paul Vallas testifies during a hearing before Judge Barbara Bellis in Bridgeport Superior Court Wednesday, July 10, 2013 to decide if he needs to vacate the Bridgeport superintendent seat immediately. Judge Bellis ruled to dissolve the stay that was keeping Vallas in his job pending an appeal.
Photo: Autumn Driscoll

BRIDGEPORT -- The next chapter in the Paul Vallas saga could be written by Wednesday as the state Supreme Court decides whether to take up an appeal of a lower court ruling that Vallas is not qualified under state law to serve as the city's superintendent of schools.

The Supreme Court could also consider a request by Vallas' legal team to allow him to stay on the job during the appeal process.

According to a petition filed by attorneys for Vallas, "thousands of schoolchildren in Bridgeport are at immediate risk due to the trial court's decision" to remove Vallas from office immediately.

If the Supreme Court does not take up the case, it could send it to the state Appellate Court.

"If the (Supreme Court) takes it up, the case can be expedited upon motion," said James Healy, an attorney for Vallas.

Norm Pattis, the attorney who argued that Vallas is unfit to serve as Bridgeport's superintendent, said his best-case scenario is that the court will agree to take the case swiftly, but deny Vallas the right to stay as superintendent while the case is being decided.

"We are unclear about the procedure," said Pattis, noting the Supreme Court is in recess for the summer. Pattis said his fear is that the matter could take months to decide.

"Our view, we don't care how long it takes if Mr. Vallas doesn't get the benefit of the stay," Pattis said. "He shouldn't get the benefit of the office he couldn't prove he is entitled to have."

Pattis said he has not filed a response to the petition, but may do so as early as Monday.

The state school board, meanwhile, is expected to take up the issue of Vallas' eligibility on Monday morning in Hartford.

The state school board has the lawsuit listed on its agenda as an executive session item.

The city's school board was also set to take up the matter Monday, but the filing deadline for that meeting came and went Friday without a notice submitted to the City Clerk's Office, much to the dismay of some board members.

Board Chairman Kenneth Moales Jr., a Vallas supporter, said last week that Vallas was still the district leader. On Sunday, Moales said in a text message that he was still in Orlando, Fla., on vacation, but expected to be back in the district late Sunday night.

Now, Baraka said, she is calling for a meeting Tuesday at 4 p.m. in Room 305 of City Hall.

The appeal petition by Vallas' attorneys seeks to overturn a decision made by Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis, who ruled Vallas is unqualified to serve as the city's superintendent because he lacks the proper certification.

Bellis' decision came even though Vallas has previously run metropolitan school districts in Chicago, Philadelphia and New Orleans.

A recent state law allows candidates who are deemed highly qualified to get a certification waiver by completing a school leadership program approved by the state Board of Education and offered at an institution of higher education in the state.

With the state school board's blessing, Vallas took an independent study course designed just for him at the University of Connecticut. But Bellis said that was not sufficient.

Stephen Eckert, another Vallas attorney, said Bellis overstepped her role by second-guessing the state school board's statutorily authorized decision to approve a course of study for Vallas.

"Without prompt intervention by this court, the city of Bridgeport will lose, by judicial fiat, one of the country's most innovative, energetic and highly skilled school administrators," the petition states.

Vallas was brought in to run the district on a temporary basis in late 2011, when a state-appointed city school board was put in charge of the district. Vallas' charge was to erase a multi-million dollar budget deficit and to create programs to turn around one of the worst-performing school districts in the state.

The state Supreme Court, after months of deliberation last year, ordered the return of an elected school board in Bridgeport. By a 5-4 vote, the elected board recently offered Vallas a three-year contract contingent on the successful completion of the UConn program.

Despite the district's non-stop drama, Baraka, who has sat on two previous superintendent search committees, said she does not anticipate any difficulty in attracting someone qualified for the job.

"There are people out there who have the necessary certification, who don't have to have any adjustments made, who would consider taking this on as a positive challenge to help the children and the families in Bridgeport," Baraka said. "I am not worried at all."